On the afternoon of Saturday 16th June, climate campaigners glued themselves to the doors of the short-haul East Midlands airport to draw attention to the environmental impacts of flying as part of a European day of action on short-haul flights called by pressure group Airport Watch.

On the afternoon of Saturday 16th June, climate campaigners glued themselves to the doors of the short-haul East Midlands airport to draw attention to the environmental impacts of flying as part of a European day of action on short-haul flights called by pressure group Airport Watch.

Two men from climate action group, Plane Stupid, have caused disruption by supergluing themselves to the passenger entrances to the airport. Supporters are there handing out leaflets to airport customers encouraging them not to fly next time, and a banner carried by helium-filled balloons was also released in the departure lounge bearing the slogan ‘Let’s fry’.

Last week another activist from Plane Stupid, Penny Eastwood, a mother of two from Yorkshire, glued herself both to the doors of Lastminute.com HQ in London in protest at the ever growing greenhouse gas emissions from aviation.

Today's day of action was called to illustrate that short-haul flights are unnecessary and unsustainable and that short haul journeys can easily be taken by train or bus which are both over ten times less polluting. Demonstrations and protests have been happening throughout the day at airports across the UK and Europe, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and others.

Aviation is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. In the UK, emissions from aviation more than doubled in ten years. In May the government quoted the figure of 13% as aviation’s contribution to UK climate impacts. If you include flights to and from the UK by UK citizens (the government excludes the former), the sector now contributes about 18.5% of the climate-changing emissions for which this country is responsible.

Nottingham protestor, Alex Harvey, said, "Binge-flying is choking the planet. Airport expansion would lock us into increased greenhouse gas emissions and undo all our other efforts to reduce emissions. It's just not an option. Yet that's exactly what is planned for airports like East Midlands which only serve destinations easily reachable by more sustainable public transport alternatives.'

Last year twenty-five activists from Plane Stupid blockaded a taxi-runway at the same airport.

A couple of months ago 'Spring into Action', a week of workshops, events, music and action on climate change happening at different venues, happened across Nottingham.

Climate change is real and its happening now. Governments and corporations dream of continued economic growth - economic growth can't solve this crisis, but we can. A massive and concerted effort is needed on the scale of 'Dig for Victory' or the 'Home Front': A war on climate change.

We can't continue our current way of life - the oil on which it all depends is running out too fast. A shift to a locally based economy will have to happen, with food and energy being produced by the people that use it. The only question is when? We could start now, or we could wait for a future of war, famine, hurricanes, droughts and floods. We need to gain the courage and change fast enough to cultivate a new world, before it's too late.

'Spring into Action' is part of an emerging grassroots movement against climate change. Born out of the Camp for Climate Action (www.climatecamp.org.uk), 'Spring into Action'unites people across the east of England into making changes in our own lives, creating small scale solutions in our communities and resisting those who still seek their own short term gain over a safe future for us all.

____________________________________________ ALAN LODGE Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK Email: tash@gn.apc.orgWeb: http://tash.gn.apc.orgMember of the National Union of Journalists [No: 014345] ____________________________________________ "It is not enough to curse the darkness. It is also necessary to light a lamp!!" ___________________________________________

Compare and contrast: The leaflet, handed out to passengers, passers-by, airport staff, policemen etc, contained the case for action. It was well put together with facts, figures and references on why people were concerned about the factors affecting climate change. Although concise, I thought it got across the practical and moral case.

I asked the East Midland Airport communications person for a press release about half way through yesterdays events. I was told one would be prepared. About an hour later, she gave me these three lines of text!

As you see, 1. they respect the right of peaceful protest. 2. they cooperate with the police to remove such protest. 3. absolutely no mention of the issues folks were there to draw attention to.

Yes, the action successfully reached a lot of people and left a lasting imact on the Departures area and Pegasus business park. Note that the accusations that we were blocking fire exits were inaccurate. If we really wanted to threaten security we would have gone to the opening in the far right hand corner of the hall.

One less connecting flight One less sleepless night One less binge flight One less hangover One less car on the road. One less heart explodes. One less shopping trip One less rubbish tip One less Made in China One less abandoned farmer One less 4x4 One less endless war. One less megawatt-hour One less tonne of smoke One less shiny apple One less rotting apple One less burger chain One less smelly cow

We've got to learn What nature can manage. It's not to late To save the planet! We've got twenty years, my dears, To acclimatise, if we're wise, We've got to change our lives, Not the climate.

because I can't string a sentence together verbally here are some slogans:

Yes to airport shrinkage!

Development: Read the science first

Short haul: Acid precipitation? Not just a hallucination! Let the train take the strain

This is utterly stupid. There is no wider analysis on why people choose cheap flights, why people want to go abroad for holidays, the reasoning why people take planes. If you can look beyond your own middleclass green morality you'll see that working class people can not economically afford to go via train, boat, and coach to somewhere like spain or greece. Also the time it takes will make most of the holiday getting there. To say that people should instead stay at home borders on the parochial nature of many of the activist involved in such campaigns.

If we are going to stop climate change it won't happen with actions like these, it will be about building a social movement which targets the basis for mass and uncontrollable carbon emissions produced by inefficient and unnecessary over production due to the capitalist market economy. We should also target the amount of short haul business flights which make up a large percentage of short haul flights in Europe.

The answer is not Not to fly, it is not to go on holiday locally, it is to support, encourage, expand the development of a social movement which challenges the essence of this death march to ecological collapse.

To answer the critcicism of the previous comment. Plane Stupid activists are heavily involved with building a social movement that criticises and seeks to build and alternative to the system that is leading us to ecological meltdown.

The reality is that it is the rich that fly and are flying more in 2007 whilst the poor are flying less than they were in 2000. The average household income for a user of the budget airport Stanstead is £47,000. The rich are buying second homes in place where locals can't afford to buy first ones and then flying over there 6 times a year. Only 7% of all flights are taken by those earning under £15,000 a year. This number is decreasing.

The reason that aviation is the less expensive option is that the aviation industry pays no tax on fuel compared with at least 60% or 70% tax on land based fuels. Furthermore the aviation industry pays no VAT on aircraft and is allowed to sell duty free to subsidise its costs. Restricting flying is a socially progressive policy that targets the overconsumption of the rich which is leading us to ecological disaster.